20. Same Heartbeat #3
“So,” Keith said, lighting up a joint. “Who are we harassing next?”
The door to the suite swung open as an exhausted Matt stepped into the dark room. Fatigued, he tossed his jacket onto the bloodstained recliner. Kicked off his shoes on the blood-soaked carpet. Walked past the bloody lump underneath the sheets of his bed and into the large bathroom.
Turning on the faucet, he grabbed his toothbrush when he heard something fall on the floor.
“Sorry, dear. Did I wake you?” he asked in a thick English accent.
He shrugged at her lack of response and spit into the sink.
He was used to her ignoring him. They could hardly call themselves a married couple—more like strangers.
“The deal fell through if you are actually interested,” he said, looking through the bathroom mirror.
“These people are bloody morons. Everyone has to be so politically correct with their false sense of righteousness. The audacity to accuse me of running sweatshops. They should be grateful I even considered their country for operations,” he snorted.
He could hear shuffling in the bedroom, but still no response. “Not sure why I’m complaining to you…” he muttered. Closing the mirror, he caught a glimpse of someone walking behind him in the room. His brows fell. “...Marla?”
He walked out of the bathroom and saw her lying under the covers.
His eyes widened in shock to see her bloodied body tied to the bed with a light bulb in her mouth.
“Marla!” he screamed. He tried to pull off the rope when she cringed.
Her eyes closed shut, trying not to bite down on the bulb. “Who did this to you?!”
“Your wife talks too much…”
Matt jumped, startled, before he finally noticed the massive shadow sitting in the corner of the room. “Who… who the fuck are you?” Matt stammered at the masked, shirtless man eyeing him like prey. His eyes widened, watching Jamie stand to his feet.
“I’m your marriage counselor,” Jamie said, approaching him. “Marla says you don’t touch her anymore.” Matt hissed as Jamie roughly grabbed the back of his head. “Let’s fix that… kiss your wife.”
Marla mumbled frantically with panic as her husband’s face slammed violently against her own, shattering the light bulb in her mouth.
Electric pain consumed her face as multiple glass shards split through her cheeks, penetrating the bone on the underside of her mouth, shredding her gums, and embedding into the root of her teeth.
Copious amounts of blood filled her mouth as she gagged on the liquid and glass shards falling down her throat, tearing her esophagus.
Matt looked down at his wife, horrified. Her mouth was filled with blood as pieces of glass stuck out of her cheek and through her lips. “Marla-!” He barely had a moment before his face was smashed into hers again.
Blood splattered the bedsheets as Matt’s face was repeatedly smashed into Marla’s face. The sound of their skulls cracking was only superseded by the sound of them choking on their own blood.
Jamie lifted Matt’s head and looked down at Marla, who was practically unrecognizable. Jamie could still hear Matt gurgling before he grabbed his blade and seamlessly pulled it across Matt’s throat.
Grabbing Matt’s phone, Jamie used Matt’s finger to access it before dropping Matt’s corpse to the ground.
Pulling up to the alley, Jamie hopped out of his truck. Several of the girls waved as he passed them. Scrolling through Matt’s phone, he went through his emails and accounts when he heard screaming coming from one of the cabins.
“Stop! Please wait!” As one client held her arms above her head, the other mounted her, pinning her to the bed. She bit down on his hand, and he shouted in pain before backhanding her hard across the face.
Njeri panicked. She never agreed to two clients. She could barely handle one. She begged them to stop, struggling to speak in Korean. But they merely laughed at her, forcing themselves on her.
She screamed hysterically, in full panic, when she heard the door break open.
She didn’t even see who it was before blood abruptly splattered her face.
Njeri looked on in shock and horror as the green-eyed devil grabbed her first client by the neck.
Jamie shoved a blade into her client’s eye before twisting and ripping his eyeball out and shoving the blade up through his chin.
The second client barely moved before Jamie grabbed his head and slammed it into the dresser. As the client struggled to get up, Jamie hooked his fingers into the client’s mouth and stomped on his head with his foot until his jaw detached.
Njeri trembled, terrified as Jamie admired the carnage, the client's jaw still dangling from his fingers. He glanced at Njeri and froze as if he had forgotten she was there. Carefully putting the bloody jaw down, he stared at her as if he didn’t know what to do.
Jamie looked around until he picked up one of the bedsheets.
He cautiously approached her, and she scrambled backward away from him.
“You’re covered in blood,” he said quietly.
Njeri swallowed hard as he crouched down in front of her.
She couldn’t stop shaking as he gently wiped the blood from her face, neck, and breasts.
Peeling off his jacket, he gently draped it over her naked body.
“Stay here,” he grunted before leaving the cabin.
“That’s your 8th client for the night! Give your pussy a break!” Eomeoni chuckled as one of her girls took off with her earnings. Her smile immediately fell when she saw Jamie enter her office, splattered with blood. “...oh no. Who did you kill this time?”
“I’m sending you my earnings for tonight,” Jamie approached her, scrolling through Matt’s phone. “With interest.”
Her phone buzzed, and her eyes widened at the amount he transferred. “Stall 17,” Jamie said firmly. “She won’t be taking any more clients for at least 3 months. Non-negotiable.” Eomeoni looked at him, startled as he left as quickly as he came.
Njeri stared blankly at the dead bodies lying in a pool of blood. This American was even more terrifying than the girls described. The way he ripped her client’s jaw. He truly was a monster.
She jumped, startled when the cabin door swung open, and Jamie walked in.
“There’s a hotel not too far from here,” Jamie said, pulling out his wallet.
“Fancy shit, but it has a bed and a bathroom. Better than this.” Njeri looked at him, confused as he handed her several bills.
“You have 3 months to learn how to mindlessly fuck or find a new job,” he said, heading for the door.
“Wait!” she said before he could leave. Glancing over his shoulder, Jamie looked at her expectantly. “Do you um… have anything to eat?”
Njeri tried not to moan as she bit into her sandwich, but it was too late. Sitting across the table from her in the cafe, Jamie was already looking at her with a raised brow. “Sorry…” she said, covering her mouth.
“Don’t apologize for eating,” he said, checking his phone. “After this, we go our separate ways.”
Njeri watched him stand from the table before he walked off toward the restroom. Wiping her mouth, her shoulders slouched. This was a guy who preferred being alone.
The door to the shop opened before a man walked inside. Njeri furrowed her brows in confusion. He looked just like JJ.
She couldn’t hear what he was saying as he tried speaking to the owner.
He seemed frantic and was already impatiently walking back out.
Njeri watched silently as he approached another white man with long blonde hair tied up in a bun and tattoos on his neck.
They exchanged words for a few moments before leaving.
She finished her sandwich before Jamie returned from the restroom. “I’ll call you a taxi,” Jamie said, approaching her, when suddenly he stopped short. The color drained from his face as his green eyes dilated. She saw him sharply inhale before he ran out of the shop.
Jamie’s heart slammed violently against his rib cage as he anxiously looked around the pier. He could feel him. He could actually feel him. He was so close. “Caleb,” he panted, looking around.
Njeri watched Jamie run from one side of the pier to the next before he abruptly fell to his knees. And she felt her heart sink.
Digging his fingers into the dirt, Jamie barely flinched as the pebbles dug beneath his fingernails. “Find me…” he gritted in anguish as his teeth ground with angst. “...fucking find me.”
Caleb dug his fingers into the gravel as he stared at his reflection in the water. Tears stained his face as his nostrils flared. He wanted to tear at his chest.
“...Caleb…”
Looking over his shoulder, Caleb saw Keith looking at him sympathetically. “...Deja called.”
“Yeah… I’m coming…” Caleb said quietly. Looking at his reflection again, he curled his fingers into a fist.
“...I’ll find you…”
*?Thank you, my darling boy
*?Mother